Travels with Amy.

Cape Cod Monday--Kayaking, Fort Hill Hike

The weather forecast promised morning drizzle followed by partial clearing, so we drove to Brewster for our morning kayak trip equipped with rain jackets. We met up with Sue and Laura, a few other people, and eventually our Audubon Society guide showed up with a trailer full of kayaks. The sky was quite dark, and he was concerned about lightening in the distance. He decided to give it half an hour to see what the Weather Gods had in store for us, and we headed off to Dunkin in search of bathrooms. Luckily the storm started to move offshore, so we hit the water. Another couple had brought their own kayaks, adorable little ones that they said only weighed 40 pounds. I'd love a pair of those, if Larry and I could figure out how to get them on top of a car. Maybe two stepstools?

Evan was still working through his little boat apprehension issues, so he and I started out in a tandem. We were on a large "pond" , really more lake-sized, with lots of birds soaring overhead. We saw swooping ospreys fishing, ( that's fish entrails in the photo) and several kinds of herons.Our guide told us a lot about the ecology of the area, local history, and more about the serious environmental threats posed by septic systems and runoff.

We slipped through a narrow stream, and then into the larger pond. The water was very choppy here and we were meeting a lot of headwind. We all got quite a workout. Evan did great, and was very knowledgeable about turning to take advantage of wind and currents. After resting on a landing, he went out in Larry's single and Larry took the second seat in the tandem. We got a good pace going, and got up to a nice speed once we turned out of the headwind. The trip was three hours, long enough for a blister and tight shoulders. We got soaking wet, but had a lot of fun. http://www.massaudubon.org/Nature_Connection/Sanctuaries/Wellfleet/index.php

We had sandwiches at the cottage, and then drove over to Fort Hill, where there's a short hike over the meadows to the marsh, with lovely views to the ocean barrier beach beyond. Lots more birds here, wildflowers, and the 19th century whaling captain's house, the Penniman's Mansion with whalebone gate. We then met up on the beach with friends Kristi and her daughter Sara, biking the Rail Trail in training for Kristi's bike ride in Israel to raise money and awareness for bone cancer. http://www.thekristiproject.org/The_Kristi_Project/About_TKP.html

Dinner was at an old institution of ours, the tacky Red Barn on route 6. They have remarkably good pizza, decent mini golf, and the boy's favorite, a very wholesome arcade room. We shared a great pesto pizza and a salad, the boys made out like bandits in the arcade (combining their winnings to get a disco ball and a lava-lamp sort of thing), and no one would play mini golf with me. Party poopers. Dan did let me take a photo of him on his favorite toddler-era icon, the quarter-fed rocking horse.